Chinese Researchers Design a Smart Wearable to Track a Cow's Health: How it Works

Tracking a cow's health is important for farmers and raisers who want to make sure that their animals are free from diseases and other conditions.

To effectively monitor how cows behave, a group of researchers from China has devised a smart wearable tool that is powered by the kinetic energy of these four-legged animals.

It resembles a smartwatch, but the difference is that it's a motion-powered device capable of tracking even the slightest movement of the beast.

Motion-Powered Health Monitoring Wearable For Cows

Health-monitoring devices used in animals often run with the help of chemical batteries. Somehow, they are helpful but still not sustainable in the long run, given the impact that they could generate on the environment.

However, there are alternatives for them. For instance, British farmers use solar-powered monitors to keep cows from grazing outside the fence.

According to a report by The Guardian on Thursday, Dec. 1, Chinese scientists have developed a wearable smart tracker that makes use of a cow's kinetic energy for data gathering.

"There is a tremendous amount of kinetic energy that can be harvested in cattle's daily movements, such as walking, running, and even neck movement," Southwest Jiaotong's energy researcher Zutao Zhang said.

The co-author of the paper also added that his team focused on creating a wearable health tracker that relies on a motion-enhancement mechanism. This tool contains a pendulum and magnets that aid in rapidly detecting a cow's small movements.

In short, this device is capable of collecting kinetic energy even from the slightest motion from cows, according to Zhang.

How This Health Monitor Works For Cows

This smart wearable is first attached to the neck or ankle of a cow. It features an electromagnetic generator responsible for storing the kinetic energy and later converting it into electrical energy. Just like other devices, it has a lithium-based battery.

Once it's connected to the cow's body part, scientists can start evaluating the farm animal's health condition. As such, researchers tested out, gathering data about the cow's air temperature, reproductive cycle, milk production, oxygen concentration, illnesses, and more.

In this way, the farmers will benefit from it by knowing its overall health status. It will also help them to determine if the cow is productive for breeding.

Before experimenting with cows, scientists first experimented with humans. Based on their observation, even a light jog can be detected and recorded by the device.

The researchers think that this technology will be a useful tool in the field of smart homes, health care, and sports monitoring someday.

To view the study entitled "A near-zero energy system based on a kinetic energy harvester for smart ranch," visit iScience for more information.

Back in October, CNN reported that a tech startup was planning to develop a dedicated wearable that would track a cow's milk.

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